Mirth, a word used often by craftsman Nick Offerman, sounds like what it means: spontaneous amusement expressed in brief laughter while enjoying the companionship of others. No matter which trade he's plying--acting (Parks & Recreation), writing (Gumption), performing live comedy or building things--Offerman exudes a childlike glee he wants everyone to share.
Good Clean Fun, Offerman's aptly titled third book, mixes mirth into two of his passions--wordsmithing and woodworking. He began working with wood while growing up in rural Illinois and the craft supported him as he made his way in the acting world, ultimately resulting in the Offerman Woodshop, a woodworkers' collective in East Los Angeles. Good Clean Fun is a beautiful testament to his lifelong love affair with shopcraft that will educate and delight wood nerds, language lovers, humorists and Offerman fans.
Packed with swoon-worthy photographs, cartoons, sketches and recipes for perfect cookout fare, Good Clean Fun is more than a straightforward how-to manual. It includes projects for those who have completed 1,000 dovetails and folks who have never picked up a hammer, while offering advice on tools, safety, shop fashion, the relation of beard length to virility and shop setups for the most limited of spaces.
Most importantly, Offerman is an evangelist for community and the benefits of artistic collaboration, espousing the belief that one should "always maintain the attitude of a student." The writing is smart and clever, sprinkled with a ye olde good times sentiment as well as modern day tomfoolery, and one can't help but get caught up in the good clean fun. --Lauren O'Brien of Malcolm Avenue Review